Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Bibb overalls. Only thing missing was a corn cobb pipe.

 

Liking it? Nope. It’s an end to a means. 23 1/2 more months and I’m done. How have you been? Haven’t spoke since our Calex days.

 

Got done with this load yesterday morning in Oakland about 10am. Was given a reload assignment the day before to pick up C&H Sugar in Crockett that was 19 miles from my final drop. I told them that I would have only 1:35 minutes left on my 70 after this 4300 mile load. Of course no one looks at the drivers logs so it was taken off of me Thursday morning. In order to start my reset in Lodi, I would have had to go literally right over the top of the sugar plant via the Benicia Bridge. So on Thursday afternoon, they called back and asked me to pick the load up then do my reset. That was doable and I said yes.

Get to the sugar plant, one that I loaded at about 30 years ago, get checked in, then the sheet show starts. Wrong PU #. 2 hours later, I’m finally told to forget it and go start my reset. Completely out of time on my 70 and 58 miles to the closest truck stop in Lodi. So, because my attitude is a direct reflection of how I’m dispatched, I PC’d the 59 miles to the J in Lodi. I’m just hoping I get a phone call Monday from safety, this will turn into the best one way conversation ever.

So here I sit, showered, fueled and just enjoying my weekend. I got my truck washed, cleaned the inside, doing paperwork and got a QC message making sure I put in for a days layover. I also got a text from the load planner that I’ll be moving Sunday after my reset. Life is good. But the best part? I marked another day off the retirement calendar.

 

This place never ceases to amaze me. Needed a reset, load fell through Friday. Do a reset that was up at 1am, was told Friday that I’d have something Sunday. Call in at 10am Richmond time and was told they’re working on it. I told them that’s what I was told on Friday, and please, explain to me why it has taken planning 2 days to work on something.

I’ve been here long enough, and I’m smart enough to know that sheet ain’t happening until tomorrow. But hey, that’s cool, I will have been off and parked in this 95 degree heat for 68 hours, truck will have been idling for a minimum of 60 total hours, at a gallon an hour, plus wear and tear on the equipment. If my math is correct, that’s 60 gallons @ $6.33 per gallon plus 2 days layover equals a total of $679.80. That’s one way of eating into the bottom line.

September can’t get here fast enough. I’ll be taking all my vacation at once, going to Greece with my wife. Now, if I go home with the truck and trailer, it’s status quote, if I write that I’m leaving the truck at the Richmond yard then fly home for vacation, there’s an underlying message in that scenario. And, if I announce I transferred my 401K from the company sponsored 401K into my outside IRA’s that I’ve had for 25 years, that should be another underlying hint.

Back to watching Netflix.